A worker on an oil rig operating in Heritage Park was taken by Life Flight helicopter to the University of Toledo Medical Center after he was rescued from the damaged rig after it partially collapsed.

Adrian City Administrator Dane Nelson said at the scene the man was conscious but had an apparent head injury received in the incident, which occurred shortly after 11 a.m. Friday.

“I talked with the president of Savoy (Energy of Traverse City), and he said they were bringing up a pipe when the pressure shifted and something snapped,” Nelson said. “They don’t know what caused it, but he said this is the first time he had seen something like this in 30 years.”

Heritage Park is owned by the city but is in Raisin Township. The city agreed to a three-year oil and gas exploration lease with Savoy on about 500 acres of city-owned property, including Heritage Park, in October 2011.

Nelson said the company was planning to lay the oil rig down in anticipation of investigators from its insurance carrier and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration visiting the site. The man, whose name was not available, had been trapped when the rig snapped, but was wearing his safety harness and helmet, Nelson said.

Andy Poenicke of Baltimore and several others were in the park and witnessed the mishap.

“We were walking the dog when I heard a loud, industrial thud. It sounded like the noise you hear when a tool box drops and everything gets jumbled up,” Poenicke said. “I ran over to the rig and saw two guys on it. One looked to be trapped, but they got him down.”

Poenicke is visiting family in Adrian for Thanksgiving.

Crews from the Raisin Township Fire Department and the Adrian Fire Department were at the scene. Adrian firefighters brought the department’s aerial ladder truck in case it was needed to rescue the man, who was about 15 to 20 feet off the ground, witnesses said.

An employee of the drilling company, who did not give his name, said they had been drilling in Heritage Park for about a week.